How important are land prices to promote smart mobility?

This paper researches and proposes an objective way to compute land prices, based on their real andcurrent values, and not on speculative grounds.This general concern falls within the framework of the overall revision of the Portuguese Land Use Lawcurrently taking place, that pursues the following goals: to assure citizensŽ access to housing(preventing real estate speculation); to control urban development processes, and to recover asignificant slice of vacant dwellings; to ensure an increased transparency in urban processes, and adeeper involvement of citizens; and to return the surplus-values accrued from public interventions forthe benefit of the society in general.The methodology proposed in this research founds on the Real Estate Municipal Tax Code - that wasapplied to the Municipality of Bragança - in order to determine the average price of land/m2 according tothe location and uses anticipated by the Municipal Master Plan (within the categories of developed landand land which development may be programmed, both aimed at built-up spaces). The comparisonbetween the values attained and the homologous market values show up that the former aresubstantially lower than the latter. So the enforcement of the new Land Use Law that tentativelyincludes the application of the current methodology, together with other proposals - stresses theimportance of this law-supported objective way to assess land prices. It straight reflects into theanticipated costs of urban development, construction initiatives, and transport infrastructures, and intothe costs involved in the implementation of accessibility and mobility measures. It consequently, exertsan important impact on the promotion of smart mobility for the municipalityŽs population